Subject: Preparing for the Implementation of S1216 (IFCSS HQ-NR 4090)

From: IFCSS HQ <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 13:59:36 -0500

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IFCSS Headquarters News Release No. 4090      January 12, 1993
          PREPARATION FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF S1216
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Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS)
   733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005
         Tel. (202)347-0017  Fax: (202)347-0018
                Email: [email-masked]

          Preparation for the Implementation of S1216
          ===========================================

Dear fellow Chinese students and scholars:

     Yesterday afternoon, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, IFCSS
Officers held a meeting with IFCSS legal advisers in Arent &
Fox to discuss issues in the implementation of S1216, the
1992 Chinese Student Protection Act. On the IFCSS side, the
participants were: Mr. He Baoping, Vice-President; Mr. Shi
Heping, Assistant to the President and Chairman of the
Public Relations and Government Affairs Committee; and Mr. 
Zhang Qingsong, Executive Director and Acting Chairman of
the IFCSS Student Affairs Committee. On the law firm side,
participants were Lynda Zengele, Eleanor Pelta, Christine
Herrell from Arent & Fox and Laura Reiff.

     Yesterday's meeting focused on three aspects: how to 
push INS to draft the regulations early; what are our positions
on some key issues; and how to handle some special cases.

     It was agreed that soon after President Clinton's 
inauguration, we should begin to contact the INS officials and
request a meeting. It was agreed that it is to the best 
interest of Chinese students and nationals that the INS 
draft the regulations as soon as possible. We will also try to 
convince INS that in order to speed up the process and reduce
the workload of INS, some kind of pre-processing is necessary.

     Based on the information provided by the HQ, IFCSS legal
advisers have prepared a question list to be raised to INS
officials. We carefully went through the list and clarified
our positions (where we stand on each issue, what are our
arguments, how to convince the INS, etc.)

     The HQ officers also called the attention of our legal
advisers to the newspaper ads by some immigration lawyers and 
lawyers concerning S1216. Several copies of the ads were
displayed.

     In those ads, it was said that S1216 went into effect
immediately,  that INS now begins to accept applications,
that those law firms are official processing stations for
S1216, that the earlier you file application with the firm,
the sooner you will get a greencard, that they have close
contact with IFCSS (actually we never heard of them), that
they were actively involved in supporting the passage of
S1216, some even claimed that they drafted the S1216. They
all requested high processing fees, from $650 to $950 a case.

     We would advise IFCSS members not to be fooled by these
ads. We are concerned that these lawyers are taking advantage
of the CSS and giving wrong interpretations and information
about the bill. Those ads might have violated the law and our
legal advisers are considering to file criminal charges against
those law firms.

     Please call IFCSS HQ before you decide to join those pre-
processing programs. Otherwise, you might spent a lot of money
for wrong advice. 

     We will keep you updated on the progress of the 
implementation. We will let you know when it is time to
file the applications. We will send news releases to the
computer networks, and will make announcement in the Chinese
newspapers. 

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*                 IFCSS Headquarters Office                         *
*                 =========================                         *
* President:      Geng Xiao  Assistant to the President: Shi Heping * 
* Vice-President: He Baoping     Executive Director: Zhang Qingsong *
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
*                   The Missions of IFCSS                           *
* Promote freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law in China *
* Assist the development of  scienece, culture and economy in China *
* Represent the interests of Chinese students and scholars in U.S.A *
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